1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an article for holding flexible sacks. More particularly, the invention relates to an article for holding in an upright, open position, a grocery sack or bag of the type made from a flexible plastic film.
2. Description of Background Art
For many years, grocery stores, as well as other retail stores, packed goods purchased by the shopper in paper bags. Paper bags provided a convenient means for carrying groceries directly to the shopper's residence, or to his vehicle for the trip home.
Once the groceries were unloaded from the paper bags, the bags were useful as receptacles for accumulating garbage and other refuse in, prior to disposal of the refuse. For this purpose, the bags were used either standing alone, or inserted as liners into waste containers.
In relatively recent times, the ubiquitous paper grocery bag has begun to be replaced by bags made of a flexible plastic film. Plastic bags have been touted by large supermarkets and similar retail stores as being the wave of the future, and a great convenience to shoppers. Some shoppers have disagreed with that assessment, on the grounds that plastic bags are not bio-degradable, as are paper bags, and that the plastic bags will not remain in an upright position in their cars.
However the relative merits of paper bags versus plastic bags are weighed, it seems clear that economic considerations apparently dictate that plastic bags will be dispensed with increasing frequency by stores, and that paper bags will become more scarce. It is equally clear that plastic grocery bags by themselves are not practically useable as trash receptacles, since they collapse into a limp pile when placed unsupported on the floor.
In apparent recognition of the desirability of having an article for holding plastic grocery bags in an upright, open position for use as a trash receptacle, a number of U.S. patents have issued for such articles. These include the following:
Orem, 4,062,170, Dec. 13, 1977, Apparatus For Loading Bags. PA1 Swenson, 4,407,474, Oct. 4, 1983, Plastic Sack Holder. PA1 Hambleton, 4,437,634, Mar. 20, 1987, Plastic Sack Holder. PA1 Stroh, 4,467,989, Aug. 28, 1984, Collapsible Rack For Plastic Bags. PA1 Isgar, 4,567,310, Mar. 18, 1986, Container For Use With Plastic Bags. PA1 Prader, 4,623,111, Nov. 18, 1986, Wire Holder for Handled Plastic Bags. PA1 Brown, et al., 4,664,347, May 12, 1987, Trash Basket Having Integral Internally-Flush Vanes For Supporting Plastic Grocery Bags. PA1 Jenkins, 4,723,743, Feb. 9, 1988, Rack For Holding Paper And Plastic Grocery Bags.
The present invention was conceived of in response to a perceived need for an improved holder for plastic grocery bags.